


Introductions

by winterdaffodils (zhem1x5)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Community: hd_smoochfest, Companionable Snark, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, M/M, Meeting the Parents, introductions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-08
Updated: 2013-09-08
Packaged: 2017-12-26 00:54:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/959673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zhem1x5/pseuds/winterdaffodils
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Godric's Hollow is a lovely little town, the last place Draco Malfoy believes he belongs.</p><p>Written for the 2011 HD_Smoochfest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Introductions

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rainfallsdown8](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainfallsdown8/gifts).



> Written for the 2011 HD_Smoochfest. I didn't manage to join the fest in time but liked the prompt enough to write for it afterward.
> 
> Prompt #143:  
> Time Period: post DH, but EWE  
> Place: godric's hallow  
> Object/Word Prompts: scarves  
> Action: Harry takes Draco to visit his parents' graves for the first time. Sorta like a introduction of sorts  
> Squicks/dislikes: don't have many squicks!  
> Preferences/Other Notes: I'm an angst whore and I have thought a lot of about what this might entail, but I'm no writer so I would love to see someone attempt it! Bring on the tears!

The crack of their Apparition was subdued in the relative quiet of the street. Christmas lights blinked merrily off the drifts of old snow, their colors adding cheer to the dirtied piles.

If Draco had any thoughts about the location, Harry was grateful to his lover for keeping silent.

The blond didn’t even ask, twining their fingers together when Harry reached for his hand, trusting the brunette to lead him.

Harry almost asked if this new deference was a New Year’s resolution or only for the moment because he could see Harry's nervousness. Except calling attention to it, if Draco didn’t want him to, would only make an already difficult trip unbearable for both of them.

Instead he filled the growing silence with seemingly meaningless chatter, trusting Draco to see the point before they reached it.

“We came here once, during the War. It was Christmas then too.” He offered Draco a warm smile, reaching to adjust the blond’s loosening scarf. “We weren’t so warm then.”

It was a short distance across the village proper but Harry took his time, strolling casually.

Imagining once again that he had grown up in the sleepy little hamlet, pretending they had all the time in the world to explore it.

Maybe someday they would. But not today. Today they had somewhere to be.

“Any guesses where we are?”

“A fair few. One definite,” Draco answered easily. “Just trying to decide how much of a Gryffindor you are, Harry.”

“I think you know the answer to that as well. Saint Potter, Head Gryffindork.”

Draco smiled, squeezing Harry’s hand.

The gate creaked loudly in the still air so Harry left it open, not wanting to disturb the fragile peace any further.

Draco waited for him on the snow covered path between the stones, reaching a hand out as though he would lead them through.

“Ignotus is here too,” Harry whispered, gesturing to a grave buried under snow. Strange and yet not that he could point it out so easily.

To his credit, Draco only looked mildly curious, nodding in acknowledgment but forcing himself to have no care for the old story. They were on important business.

James and Lily Potter were buried in a far corner, which Draco supposed made sense. The newer graves radiated out from the oldest at the centre.

He kept a careful, respectful, distance; eyes moving guiltily from Harry’s crouched form to the upright headstone.

He didn’t belong here.

He looked over the cemetery instead, surprised and pleased that theirs were the only tracks in the falling snow. Sad, too, because even at Christmas, lost loved ones should be remembered.

Included.

A quick spell dusted off the stones, many now illegible, and another conjured vases of fragrant blossoms.

No longer forgotten.

Harry turned then, reaching out for him before realizing that Draco had not accompanied him that far. “Draco?” he asked.

Draco grimaced, squatting to trail his gloved fingers through the snow, having no intention of answering Harry’s beckoning.

“Come over here.”

“No, Harry. This—I shouldn’t be here.”

Ratty Muggle trainers came to a stop in Draco’s periphery, fingers combing through his hair before Harry bent to take his hand and pull Draco to his feet.

“I love you. They would have loved you.”

Draco shook his head cynically, cold white flurries falling from their place in his hair. “Yes, I’m sure,” he snorted. “They would have loved me for going against everything they were and joining the monster that killed them. Even a passing affection is too much for me to ask.”

Harry’s fingers slid into his hair, holding Draco still though he didn’t try to escape. The brunette kissed him softly, his thumbs caressing Draco’s cheekbones.

Draco let him kiss him, knowing Harry needed it as much as he did.

“You love me, Draco,” Harry whispered finally. “If only for that, they would have adored you.”

Draco smiled, pulling Harry closer for another kiss. “Promise?”

“Let me introduce you? Please?” Harry wound their fingers together again, pulling Draco behind him. “They were Gryffindors of course, so no teasing.” Harry smiled. “My mother was best friends with Snape until around the end of their 5th year.”

Draco nodded; he knew the story quite well from the other side. With emphasis on how like his father Harry was. He’d always taken Severus at his word; one Gryffindor had seemed the same as the next.

But Lily had been different. Even years after she had died, for Severus, she was different. The one, if a person believed in soul mates. Severus had claimed he didn't, but Draco knew the elder Slytherin had mourned her until the day he died.

"What was she like? Severus could rarely bear to speak of her."

Harry smiled. "She had a temper to match her hair, a proper Gryffindor." They shared a laugh before Harry continued. "Mum was a lot like you actually." He tightened his hold on Draco's hand, giving it a squeeze. "Incredible at Potions and far too smart for a Potter."

Draco snorted, trying to cover it with his free hand.

"Fortunately, we're wily. Potters get under the skin until there's no choice left but to love us."

"Can't deny that," Draco agreed. "And your father? Was he only wily?"

"Snape would say so."

"He said worse."

"It was deserved. Mostly," Harry admitted. "Except the parts that reflected on me."

"Mostly."

Harry laughed, conceding the point. "My dad had a Gryffindor's sense of adventure, but not always of fair play. I don't know, maybe that is a Gryffindor's trait and I'm astonishingly Hufflepuff."

"No, no Hufflepuff in you, Harry. The Slytherin in me would have buggered it out by now."

The brunette's jaw dropped, blushing hotly. "Draco! Not in front of my parents."

Draco guffawed before he could stop himself, burying his face in Harry's collar to quiet his mirth. "Oh, Harry, maybe a bit of Hufflepuff."

"Anyway, he was a good man. Just not perfect. And he loved my mum, no matter how many years they spent on hate first."

"You are like your father then."

"Maybe. But that reminds me what I wanted to say about you thinking you don't belong here because you went against what they believed in."

"Harry--"

"No, let me say this. Because I know loads of people tell you that same shite all the time, but they've no idea what they're talking about."

"Harry, you don't-"

"Please let me say this. Just once."

Draco nodded finally, closing his eyes as he leaned closer to Harry.

"You said you went against everything they were." He rested a hand comfortably on Draco's shoulder. "But that's not true at all. Everything you did was for your family. You fought and nearly died to keep them safe. You Gryffindor."

The blond jerked backward with a laugh. "You had me until the unnecessary name calling."

"You called me a Hufflepuff," Harry objected.

"You deserved it."

"And you deserve to have your courage and bravery acknowledged. Anyway, it was only after Snape's warning of their danger that they took me into hiding. Turns out he was a better friend than Pettigrew."

They were silent for a long time, living statues in the falling snow.

"I think joining Voldemort was a fate you had no hope of outrunning." Harry finally whispered. "At least, not by the time you did it. Maybe if I had taken your hand that day, offered you another way."

"Please tell me you don't blame yourself, Harry. Hermione says you have a problem."

Harry snickered. "No, I know that in the end we're responsible for the choices we make. The bad and the good. And I for one think you've made some great ones." He smiled, pulling the blond into another kiss.


End file.
